saw this on the truck mount forum

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10890298/IICRC%20Financials.zip

IICRC and all those involved are making a pretty penny...lol

What about it Mr.Steamer?

 

We aren't a certified firm, but our Tech is certified. Therefore we can say Certified Techs. Always a loop hole. They won't let us purchase patches or van decals because we aren't certified firm, no big deal.

 

There is no way we are going to pay $200, plus start up fees. We've only turned away one job in the five years we've been around, because we weren't a certified firm.

I dropped my certified firm status several years ago. I was not getting any calls from their website and i was tired of paying all that money to keep everybody updated. Here are my pros and cons.

for what... a once a year news letter....??

a course without any hands on experience???

This is BOGUS a scam plain rip off....  These guys are smarter than the Nigerians, no offence but true

Hmmm I am guessing that these guys did something to make you feel cheated and now you want to help others not to get cheated as you have been. I applaud that sentiment. We need more people to stand up for what they believe and to help others in the process.

At the same time I think we need to be cautious of two things.

One is that when we rant we alienate more people than we convince. Reasoned and believable words will better give us the result we are looking for. Certainly almost everybody who has been a part of IICRC  understands that the IICRC has a good purpose, which is to educate carpet cleaners. They do some things pretty well. They do provide value. Are they perfect? No. In my previous post I mentioned things about them that I don't like. You make a good point when you say that they do no hands on training. I agree, I believe testing should be done on whether they can actually get the stains out, can they remove that water stain from the cotton upholstery, show me that they can identify carpet fibers and know what solutions clean best. I am not a member now even though I was for many years. I have even been upset at them a couple of times. But when we say they are a scam and no value what so ever, it's just not true and most people do not believe it.

Second discounting them completely is like throwing the baby out with the bath water. For many carpet cleaners, particularly if they are new to the industry, the IICRC is something they should carefully consider because there is value there.

One forum member stated that they were not a certified firms but their technicians received certifications so that they could state in their marketing materials they have IICRC certified techs. For very little money they are getting their techs some classroom training and use it for marketing. Being able to call the on staff experts is a huge value. They saved my bacon a couple of times.

It is a matter of educating yourself about the value of joining an organization getting the most out of your investment.

So, Mr. Steamer, thank you for being a champion for what you feel is right but might I suggest that you turn down the volume and the rhetoric so that we can hear you.

Akpowerclean

(been around the block several times)

Nope, not even close. I am not even a big fan of the IICRC. As I stated I am no longer even a member of the IICRC. I dislike their exaggerated statements of how they hold certified firms to stringent standards of work and ethics. I don't think they do enough. I think they charge too much money for what they do.

But they do have some value as I already stated twice. What I am a fan of is the value they have in marketing and for a person just starting out in the business.

Apparently when you went to your first "seminar" either you already knew the information they were teaching and it was a waste of your time or you had a terrible instructor and it was a waste of your time.

In my case it was in about 1994 when I went to my first class. Even though I had been a carpet cleaner for a while that first class opened my eyes to the importance of knowing the science of carpet cleaning. Suddenly I understood why somethings I had been doing were not working well. I am embarrassed to say that before I went to the IICRC class I thought I was a pretty good carpet cleaner. After the class I realized I had a lot to learn in order to become an expert carpet cleaner. Did IICRC make me an expert carpet cleaner? No. A lot of research and a new willingness to try out new techniques and technology did. I made a point of writing for my company an employee manual that is over 300 pages of how to handle any cleaning situation my technicians came across. I want my techs to know not only what to use but why it works. 

I will agree with you that for some who already have the knowledge or who get it from different sources then IICRC is a waste of your time and money. Also for the record I don't think that their refer an IICRC member program has much value either. At least for me in Alaska we rarely received a referral from them.

In my semi retirement ( All I do now for my carpet cleaning business that I still own is marketing) I also have a small marketing company. I work with lots of different types of companies. Something called trust points is important in the kinds of businesses that go into peoples homes. Being  BBB member is a trust point. Being an IICRC certified technician is a trust point. This stuff means something to consumers when they are choosing who to hire.

I believe when you are first starting out trying to build your business and you can't say "I have been in business for 12 years" then you need to have something to help build your credibility. Certification is one of those things. As a new business without a lot of repeat customers I believe the IICRC is a useful tool to show credibility and gain knowledge. 

Once you reach a certain point of growth you might choose to drop it.

All I am saying is that there is good with the bad. Take advantage of the good. For a new business the cost of being a cc certified tech is a good investment.

 Until four years ago I have lived all of my life in Alaska.

I now live in Spokane where I do the marketing for my business in Alaska and I run my small business marketing company here.

Other than being a certified firm for a number of years and having my technicians be certified I have had zero affiliation with IICRC.  

Please no more insinuations that I am in cahoots with the IICRC.

If I were with the IICRC would I have as many bad things to say about them as I do good?

Have a great carpet cleaning season PapaGator

Akpowerclean

www.akpowerclean.com

 

It was also not a bad teacher either. The teacher at the time was Jim Darling (RIP Jim). You may know that name from Chemspec. He was a carpet cleaning genius IMHO. I was hoping to come away with some of that genius so I could continue in my job which is the Caretaker of a 125 bed Nursing home with 100,000 sq. ft. of carpeting that was not there before. Guess what? Didn't happen that way. Oh, I am still there, and have been for 36 years, but no thanks to what I took away from the IICRC. Thank the good Lord that there was a CC'er here in town that let me shadow him for a bit (someone like Steamer I would be willin to bet) so I could learn true hands on techniques.

 

You may have warm and fuzzy feelings for the IICRC but for me, I got squat from them, but got the pleasure of meeting Jim out of it.

Good Luck to you in your semi retirement.

Ross, (Da Gator)

Sorry If I sounded sensitive.  Considered my chain yanked. What I took away from my first class was not so much a great amount of new knowledge but instead the fact that I had a lot to learn. Most of the knowledge I did learn over the next many years was not from IICRC but was from reading Cleanfax articles and researching on the internet. I did a ton of experiments in my shop trying different solutions on different fibers and with different stains. I wish I had a carpet cleaner like you did to learn from. I did have several employees that took what I taught them and started their own businesses. Actually my feelings are not particularly warm and fuzzy for IICRC. I just think they do have some value for marketing and for certain people.

Hoping you are swimming in circles where there is money to be made.

Akpowerclean

Price... Price.... Price... that's all people care about

BBB laughable,  IICRC a joke... no one ever asks or cares about that crap....big business small business don't matter.

Now if your doing floods the IICRC cert is handy and having an adjuster in your back pocket sure damn helps.

But for commercial/residential waste of time

As I looked around at the members of this forum I see that 90% of them never really did much. Now I understand.

What a monumental waste of time.

I mean no personal criticism but it gets pretty frustrating when people either don't read all of the post or they disregard part of what was said.

What I said repeatedly was-

I do not think the two day classes make anybody a competent carpet cleaner.

I said- I think that they should do hands on testing to see if they really can do what had been taught.

I said that the class had value because it taught the basics and hopefully awakened in people the understanding they need to learn more of the science of carpet cleaning.

I said- that I agree there was not in my opinion a lot of value in the IICRC referral program for certified firms. That is one of the reasons I quit several years ago.

I do agree with you that people don't often call and ask if we are IICRC certified. My point was that being able to put the IICRC certification logo on your marketing is a trust point. People are not going to call you up and ask if your are an IICRC certified firm but if back in the day you had a yellow page ad and you said you were a great carpet cleaner etc... and right next to you was an ad from your competitor and he said he was a great carpet cleaner etc... and he was also a certified carpet cleaning tech, upholstery clean tech, water restoration tech. Everything else being equal who would get the most calls? 

Things like having been in business for a long time, being licensed, bonded and insured, having an absolute guarantee these are trust points. When people see you are certified as a carpet cleaner it shows a touch of professionalism.

I study marketing. That is what I do now. I am semi retired from my company that I own and I live and breathe marketing.

What I said was that a new carpet cleaner just starting out needs every advantage possible and they need as much education as possible. I said that the small price of becoming a certified technician was a good investment.

Westcovina, sorry if it sounds like I am dumping on you. Your post was fine except that I wish you had read all of the posts to see what I really said.

God luck with your carpet cleaning business.